Best of HN: 11 Signs Equestrians Are Easy to Please, Winter Edition

Shout-out to Rossy Morillo for inspiring this list and providing sign #3!

For all the fuss and bother we equestrians make about things being absolutely just the way we want them — yes, I love when family members come help me do barn chores but seriously I hang the halters exactly that way for reasons I can’t explain to you and it drives me up the wall when you change it — we’re really not that hard to please.

In fact, the more we think about it, the more the weirdest things make us completely happy, especially in the high-maintenance season of winter. And to be totally truthful, winter is such a struggle for horse owners that we’re simply pleased just when things are going normally. Here’s a list.

1. When the blanket comes in from turnout with the same number of straps it was turned out with.

2. When the ice berm on the arena roof stays intact for your entire lesson.

3. Going out to the barn at 6:30 on a cold morning and finding that the buckets AREN’T frozen.

4. “He didn’t buck me off today!”

5. Opening the sliding barn doors on the first try without having to chip them free of ice and snow.

6. When the ice balls accumulated in the shoes pop free on the first twist of the pick.

7. When the hose surprisingly isn’t frozen into a giant crinkly curlicue.

8. “He finally pooped!”

9. When you realize you actually remembered to put a block down for your trailer jack back in the muddy autumn.

10. When you successfully made it to the manure pile with a fully-loaded wheelbarrow without slipping on the ice.